The investigation of the mysterious "leaker" of the allegations against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during the height of the election campaign has borne fruit: The leak was found to have been initiated by a senior official in the Tel Aviv District Prosecution office. An attorney named Leora Glatt-Berkowitz has admitted supplying Ha'aretz reporter Baruch Kra with the information on the police investigation into a $1.5 million loan to Sharon and/or his sons by his friend Cyril Kern. She is reported to have said that she has a son of army age, and she did not want Sharon to be re-elected as Prime Minister.
Glatt-Berkowitz was questioned last night "under caution," meaning that she is suspected of a crime - that of disclosing classified information - and was released under restrictive conditions. She has been suspended from her position, and it is assumed that she will be indicted.
Kra and another journalist were also questioned yesterday, for "interfering with a police investigation." Media and other elements accused the police and Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein of themselves interfering with the media's right to free speech and to protect their sources. The Movement for Quality in Government sent a letter of complaint to the Attorney-General regarding his actions against Kra. In response, Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit said today that Kra's original story was legitimate, but not those that he published after he was warned that they were harmful to the investigation of Sharon.
Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander told Army Radio's Razi Barkai this morning that the law states that it is a "criminal act for a government employee to transmit, without authorization, information that he learned in the framework of his position to an unauthorized person." Barkai responded, "That's what we live on in the media. Otherwise, we would all be unemployed."
It was originally widely believed that the police leaked word of the six-month-old investigation, and the Attorney-General even condemned what he called "the involvement of the law-enforcement bodies in the political system," and said that the leak was intended to influence the upcoming election. He said again today, in a press conference he called for the purpose, that the leak was done "purposefully and ideologically, and it failed." Rubenstein said, "Would any fair-minded citizen agree to have an investigation against him handled by a prosecutor who had purposefully leaked it to the press?"
Glatt-Berkowitz was questioned last night "under caution," meaning that she is suspected of a crime - that of disclosing classified information - and was released under restrictive conditions. She has been suspended from her position, and it is assumed that she will be indicted.
Kra and another journalist were also questioned yesterday, for "interfering with a police investigation." Media and other elements accused the police and Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein of themselves interfering with the media's right to free speech and to protect their sources. The Movement for Quality in Government sent a letter of complaint to the Attorney-General regarding his actions against Kra. In response, Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit said today that Kra's original story was legitimate, but not those that he published after he was warned that they were harmful to the investigation of Sharon.
Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander told Army Radio's Razi Barkai this morning that the law states that it is a "criminal act for a government employee to transmit, without authorization, information that he learned in the framework of his position to an unauthorized person." Barkai responded, "That's what we live on in the media. Otherwise, we would all be unemployed."
It was originally widely believed that the police leaked word of the six-month-old investigation, and the Attorney-General even condemned what he called "the involvement of the law-enforcement bodies in the political system," and said that the leak was intended to influence the upcoming election. He said again today, in a press conference he called for the purpose, that the leak was done "purposefully and ideologically, and it failed." Rubenstein said, "Would any fair-minded citizen agree to have an investigation against him handled by a prosecutor who had purposefully leaked it to the press?"